Evolution of acoustic waves in microinhomogeneous media with quadratic elastic nonlinearity and relaxation

A nonlinear wave equation for the velocity “relaxator” is derived in the framework of the rheological model and the corresponding equation of state of a microinhomogeneous medium containing viscoelastic defects with quadratic nonlinear elasticity. The equation is qualitatively analyzed, and numerical solutions to it are presented for a stationary symmetric shock wave and the evolution of initially harmonic waves.